Looking around the studio on Monday, Tracy knew things would never again be the same for The Corny Collins Show.

"This is crazy, Corny," Maybelle finally said to her co-host. "How can we have forty kids dancing on this tiny stage, all at the same time?" She shook her head. "If you find a way to make it work, please let me know."

"It has to work," Corny frowned.

"You know I want this as much as you," Maybelle told him. "And I've had to work a lot harder to get it. But putting two councils together… I don't know. The whole choreography will be messed up," she sighed. "It's hard enough to get them to agree as it is. If it's this hard to get it to work out mentally… it's gonna take a lot more work to make it work, physically."

Corny was visibly frustrated.

"What can we do about it?" he fussed. "Switch off councils every other day, with half of one and half of the other?"

Maybelle shook her head again. "The original council members are too used to dancing with each other for us to do that. There's gotta be something else."

Corny kept thinking. "It's not like we can get rid of half of our originals.

"Or make us give up our dreams."

"No," Corny agreed. "Definitely not."

"What, then?"

"Maybe… maybe Edna has an idea."

"Get a bigger stage," Edna suggested when they approached her, rather bluntly for everyone's taste. "Or… agh, I don't know. I'm sorry, Mr. Collins."

"Corny, it looks to me like you don't have too much to worry about now," Maybelle said, bitterly, discovering some sheets of paper on Edna's desk. "Three of the 'originals' just handed in their resignation papers just now."

"Who?" Corny fumed.

"Looks like… Paulie, Luanne, and Brad. Aww, Luanne seemed so sweet…"

"Not Brad," Corny groaned. "He was our second head dancer… and now Paulie and Luanne's partners are alone, but won't work with each other. I guess we'll have to rearrange the whole pairing order, or make someone sit out…"

"That's it!" Edna cried. "Just switch the dancers out at commercial breaks."
"That way, no one will get too much camera time," Corny grinned, catching on. When he said this, Amber von Tussle and her selfish camera-hogging immediately came to mind. "Perfect, Edna."

Edna grinned too. "Glad to help."

"Oh, and call me Corny," he insisted. "After all… you are MY boss."

"Right," Edna murmured, already back to business.

Stepping onto the stage, Corny tapped a mic and started to command people into place.

Seaweed and Inez were put together, because Maybelle thought Inez was too young to be with other boys (and secretly thought it best that she not cause controversy by dancing with a white boy, so soon after being crowned Miss Hairspray).

Tracy thought that means that she would be placed with Link, but Corny decided to put him with Amber, whose replacement partner, Brad, had just left the show. Tracy would be dancing instead with a boy named IQ, a rather dorky-looking fellow who seemed nice enough.

That was not the case.

As the two couples danced together, IQ, unaware that Tracy were going, he (not having attended the pageant), murmured something to Link.

"Man, how did I get the cow and you get the fox?"

IQ began to snicker, thinking Link would agree with him and do the same. Amber, who IQ was also hoping to impress, was beaming at the compliment for her and the clear degradation of her enemy, Tracy. Tracy was blushing furiously, ducking into IQ's shoulder as to not show her face. Try as she might not to, she was starting to cry. She did NOT want to be embarrassed on live television.

Link, on the other hand, had no such qualms. Enraged by IQ, he released Amber immediately, and lunged at IQ.